The first batch of second round matches in the Grand Slam served up a real darting treat. As the tournament enters the knock-phase, the games are doubled to first to ten and we are now going to get a new champion. Results:
Dean Winstanley 10-5 Arron Monk: Winstanley became the first quarter finalist after a comfortable victory over Monk. Nerves were apparent from both players to begin with, Winstanley mis-counted when he thought he won leg after hitting treble-16, double eight. He then realised he had actually left himself double two but he managed to recompose himself to still take the second leg before moving into a 3-0 lead. Monk fought part in the latter part of the first session to make it 3-2 going into the break after Winstanley missed five darts to make it 4-2.
Monk was unable to level the match on the restart and Winstanley took a crucial ninth leg to lead 6-3. Again Monk took the remaining leg of the session to make it 6-4 going into the second break. But it was Winstanley that managed to up a gear going into the final session and soon powered his way to lead 9-4. Monk was able to delay the inevitable for one more leg before Winstanley completed the job.
Mervyn King 5-10 Kevin Painter: Painter will meet Winstanley again after erasing King out of the tournament. King erupted at the start of the match with a 126-checkout and it looked like both players were in it for the long haul when they were locked together at 2-2, although King did miss six darts to lead 2-1. For some reason, King just lost his flair and before long Painter had taken a colossal 7-2 lead, it could have been 5-3 but King missed another three darts at the double.
King did manage to win the final leg of the second session but still found himself 8-3 and 9-4 behind. He did manage to delay the inevitable for a further leg before Painter ended the match to put himself into the final eight.
Michael Van Gerwen 10-5 Phil Taylor: Van Gerwen continues his re-breakthrough year with an epic against the reigning Grand Slam Champion. It was the best match of the night by far and could well be the best match of the whole tournament. The pair were trading trebles and were inseparable for the first eight legs.
Taylor had taken a 125-checkout to lead 4-3 but the Dutchman kicked up another unbelievable gear to take a gigantic 8-4 lead, which included a fantastic 130-checkout. The only disappointment for Van Gerwen saw him miss six darts to break the throw once more and take a 9-4 lead. But he composed himself to take the match 10-5 with a superb 108 average.
Robert Thornton 8-10 Scott Waites: The 2010 Grand Slam Champion was never behind against the UK Open Champion to set up a quarter final tie against Van Gerwen. There were only three breaks of throw and it took until the 18th leg for Waites to finally see of the tenacious Scot. The first session completely with throw, giving Waites a 3-2 advantage.
Waites then secured the first break of throw to move into a 5-3 lead with an incredible 148-checkout and had two darts to extend that further, but Thornton took advantage of the missed darts to break back before levelling the match 5-5. From there, the pair continued to trade blows with Waites going 9-8 ahead, leaving Thornton throwing to force a deciding leg. But it didn't happen and Waites secured his passage in style with a Shanghai 120-checkout.
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